Bubbles
by Fantasizing-Lady-Knight
Summary: Hmmm...KelDom and lots and lots of bubbles...how'd this happen? Read to find out! KelDom...enough fluff to make you retch.


GAAAA!!!!!! I HAVE WRITER'S BLOCK AGAIN SO I CAN'T CONTINUE FLESHEATING UNICORNS!!!! THE AGONY, THE AGONY!!! ::runs around room, banging head on various objects:: Oh well...I hope you enjoy this little ficlet anyhow.

Disclaimer: The sky is a shade of neon orange with dark green clouds, the grass is a queer shade of lavender and 2 plus 2 equals 7851—and did I mention that I own all of these characters and settings?

This little fic is dedicated to dreamerdoll, my favorite fanfiction author, my fellow writer, a kind person who reads my stories, and a person who I admire with every ounce of my being even if I think she's weird for liking Kel/Neal. I read all her fics anyway.

Guess what? I like my disclaimer.

Bubbles

By Fantasizing-Lady-Knight

Kel sighed in exasperation. Winters at New Hope were rather annoying. Especially this one. This one had some serious problems. Why did life like making fun of her? It wasn't quite fair.

She was currently walking to New Hope's kitchens. It was after dinner and she had signed herself up for dish-washing. This wasn't the first time, and it wasn't that she disliked washing dishes—it wasn't even that she /disliked/ the people she was washing dishes with...it was that she liked one of them too much.

Dom's squad of the Own had arrived from border patrol about two months before, ordered to stay at New Hope and help Kel, who always wanted more trained and armed men at her constantly increasing refugee camp. In fact, New Hope was less like a refugee camp and more like a village every day...or even a fief. But that wasn't the point. Kel still had a large crush on a certain blue-eyed cousin of her best friend (Or was she too old to call it a crush? she wondered briefly) which seemed to swell larger every time she set eyes on his slightly ruffled, dark hair, his vivid blue eyes, always full of laughter, and his mouth, made for smiling...the way his shoulders fit his tunic...his muscular chest...

Kel bit her tongue to discipline herself from such thoughts. Her mind had wandered...again. Angry with herself, Kel snorted with disgust at herself and headed more determinedly toward the back of the kitchen where there were basins to wash dishes...and Dom. Somehow she had been assigned to dish-washing with Dom tonight and she could almost see Sukuyo laughing at her so hard that he fell off of one of the clouds he was sitting on.

The point of this entire conversation with herself was that Kel had to be in a room with Dom for several hours doing a very boring task that would most likely contain conversation. So what if there would be two or three other people helping—Dom would be there, and so would she.

She sighed again. Someone out there must have really wanted her to make a fool of herself—she couldn't get within ten feet of Dom without blushing...Gods knew she would be babbling like an idiot by the time she was washing hundreds of dishes beside him...

Gathering up her courage, Kel stepped into the small room. There were the two large basins of water—one soapy for washing, the other clear and clean for rinsing. There were the brush for scrubbing beside the soapy basin and the small skin of liquid soap along with the neatly folded towels for drying and the cupboards where they would place all of the clean dishes when they were done. And there was Dom. Kel winced. Dom was the only one there. How...evil.

Dom grinned widely at her presence and greeted her happily in his beautiful (or at least beautiful to Kel's ears) baritone voice, "And here's our wonderful Protector of the Small!"

Kel glowered at him in mock-anger and snapped, "Don't call me that! Just because you have a pet name for Neal doesn't mean you have to have one for me, too!" Glancing around just to make sure that Dom was the only one there, she added, puzzled, "By the by, where are all the other people? I know Garmond and Menonly were assigned here...where are they?"

Dom, still grinning, announced, "They won't be joining us."

Kel's eyes widened—alone with Dom for hours?—and, close to panic, exclaimed, "Why ever not?"

Dom calmly replied, "You know how Menonly was pregnant, well she's gone into labor, and Garmond split his hand open while slicing meat for dinner—neither are in good enough shape to wash dishes..." he paused dramatically, "So it's just you and me, oh mighty Protector!"

As the two of them started to clean the piles of dirty plates, bowls, and utensils—Kel washing, Dom rinsing and drying—Kel scowled at him again, "I thought I specifically ordered you not to call me that!"

Dom's impish grin widened, "You did, great Protector, but I never so much as implied that I'd obey your order." He took one of the dishes she had cleaned, and dunked it in the clean water before drying it quickly and setting it aside.

The lady knight continued to glare at him, her hands scrubbing another plate clean and handing it to Dom. "What if I ordered you not to call me that retched name as your commanding officer?" she growled dangerously.

Rinsing and drying two bowls and a fork, Dom cheerfully answered, "Then I would have to obey, wouldn't I, Protector?" His eyes gleamed mischievously.

With a screech of fury, eyes playfully angry, Kel took the near-clean bowl she was washing and dumped its contents on Dom's head. The sergeant spluttered as soapy water poured down his face and drenched him from his collar to his waist.

Smirking triumphantly, Kel handed the very wet Dom the bowl to rinse and dry, and turned back to the dishes to be scrubbed. Dom dropped the wooden bowl on the ground and splashed her directly from her own basin, showering her with soapy liquid, and laughing. Bubbles drifted about the small room as the knight scooped up some of the bubbly foam from the surface of her basin and gobbed it onto his dark hair, making him a crown of white bubbles, laughing as she did so.

Dom lifted his entire basin and dumped the water onto Kel, completely wetting her to her very bones. Kel picked up the skin of liquid soap and sprayed Dom in the chest with it, grinning maniacally.

The sergeant tried to gain control of the jet of gooey soap, but as he attempted to pull the skin out of the woman's hold, he only succeeded in directing the stream of soap at the floor instead and creating a lot more bubbles to careen about the room.

Kel let go of the skin of soap, and was stepping towards him to make him wetter and soapier in any way possible when her boots slipped (A/N: hmmm...I wonder why...) on the soapy-water covered floor and she started to fall, eyes full of surprise.

But then, Dom was there, catching her before she could land. He caught her hands and pulled her up, and suddenly they were very close, Dom's hands still holding hers. For some strange reason, Kel was afraid to breath, her hazel eyes focused on his bright blue ones, lost in their depths.

Dom's breath was hot on her cheek as she heard him murmur huskily, "We can't have our Protector banging her head on the floor after slipping, now, can we?"

Slowly the two of them moved closer together, their lips finally meeting softly.

Heat rushed through her from his lips, making her warm and content. A sweet, powerful feeling rose in her chest and she heard her heartbeat banging in her ears...in the far back part of her mind that could still think sense, Kel realized that he tasted like soap...not that she minded...

Slowly the man's arms sneaked around her waist and pulled her closer to him as she flung hers about his neck, twining her hands together and keeping him close to her. The kiss steadily became more intense until applause interrupted their passionate embrace.

The couple sprang apart, both loosing footage on the slippery floor and tumbling to the ground to sit and glance dazedly about, rubbing smarting behinds ruefully.

Who else could be in the doorway but Neal, one eyebrow raised, arms now crossed, and smirking at them with that look of his that meant trouble?

Kel groaned and collapsed. Knowing Neal he was ready to add insult to injury as only he could.

Neal's smirk broadened as he said briskly, "Well, that was interesting...when's your next performance?"

The green-eyed man had to duck quickly to avoid the dish-scrubbing brush that was hurled at his head.

The End!!!

Aww...wasn't that so...fluffy? Like a pillow...or merangue...or a marshmallow...I'm really starting to like that idea dreamerdoll had for the club "We Are Fluffier Than Marshmallows" And wasn't that...soapy? I hate washing dishes more than any other chore, but I would wash several million dishes happily if I had Dom with me... ::trails off to la-la land::


End file.
